Backcountry huts, IKEA-style

Here's how to build a hut or home on a shoestring budget.

The dream is to buy a piece of forested land, and to build. Build until your cottage-loving heart’s content. This dream, like many others that let us do what we want without question, also includes a bottomless wallet.

But dream no more, the ability to build a hut in the lake-facing woods or open field for a reasonable price is closer to being a reality with the Backcountry Hut Company now in the picture.

The company started in 2015, with the idea to create “a simple, recreational structure that could be easily installed in a remote location — something that most backcountry enthusiasts romanticize over.” And all with a shoestring budget.

That’s because these huts that the company offers is prefabricated and meant for inexpensive self-assembly. They’re designed in a modular shape, making the best use of your space, with the smallest base model measuring 191 square feet, but sleeping two to four people. The largest, sitting at only 937 square feet, can cleverly sleep 16 to 24 happy campers.